Saturday in London
Today I decided to take the train to London again. I had no set agenda this time, other than to visit the Russian Winter Festival being held in Trafalgar Square. Coinciding with the Russian old new year (according to the Tsarist calendar), the festival featured performances by many Russian groups. I arrived just in time to hear the Red Army Chorus. Later in the day, I also saw an aerial ballet performance, and a Russian rock band.
After the Red Army Chorus, it was getting to be time for lunch. Rather than search for a sit-down restaurant without a long line, I popped into the Tesco Express on Trafalgar Square and purchased a chicken fajita wrap, a Diet Coke, a packet of crisps (prawn cocktail-flavoured), and a very nice almond croissant. Instead of eating while walking, I looked for a bench. Trafalgar Square was filled with thousands of people attending the Winter Festival so there was no place there to sit. So, I wandered through a large, imposing archway into St. James's Park. The Park runs from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Along its other edges are Westminster Palace and St. James's Palace. I found an empty park bench across from the duck pond where I sat and ate lunch. The chicken fajita wrap is one of my favourite choices from Tesco's ready-meal sandwich selection. I had never had prawn cocktail-flavoured crisps before, but they taste much like potato chips dipped in cocktail sauce. Not bad. In fact, much better than the ham-flavoured crisps I had a couple of weeks ago. The almond croissant was very flaky (all down the front of my shirt, in fact), but terribly yummy.
After lunch, I walked about the park a bit and soon I found the Institute of Contemporary Art. They were showing "Turtles Can Fly" - a film shot on location in an Iraqi refugee camp. I also noticed that there was a special Night of Skateboarding Culture tonight. I quickly purchased tickets to both.
Since I had some time before the movie, I wandered about a bit more. I took the obligatory photo of the police officers at the gate at Number 10 Downing Street, as well as a photo of the non-mounted guard at the entrance to the Horse Guards. Further along was Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I was in time for Evensong at the Abbey, so I slipped in. (See Side Note on Visiting Westminster Abbey.) It was amazing to sit there and think that similar services have been held daily in this place for almost one thousand years.
A returned to the ICA for the showing of "Turtles Can Fly." It's a terribly sad film about a group of children forced to grow up way too soon. In order to survive, some of the children must diffuse land mines and then sell them to earn a bit of money. All views on George Bush and the Iraq war aside, if this is how things were under the regime of Saddam, something needed to be done.
For dinner, I strolled along The Strand and bought a steak pastie at Charing Cross Station. It was hot and fairly tasty. I ate it as I strolled further along. Spotting another Tesco Express (and remembering my earlier almond croissant), I decided to get a chocolate one. It was very yummy as well.
Since it was almost time for the night of Skateboarding Culture, I headed back to the ICA. As people were coming in, an artist was onstage creating the backdrop for the performances. Instead of using traditional paints, he was using various colours of spray paints. The first item on the program was the screening of eight skating short films shot in a single day by local kids as part of a workshop. Some were quite good. We also viewed several other short skating films. Next was a hip-hop group followed by a DJ with his turntable. Following those two performances, the ska-punk band No Comply played.
I took a number of quite nice pictures. One day, I hope to be able to post them.
Currently, I am sitting in the same Internet Cafe as the previous two weekends. Not only is it convenient, it has the cheapest rates of any I have found.
After the Red Army Chorus, it was getting to be time for lunch. Rather than search for a sit-down restaurant without a long line, I popped into the Tesco Express on Trafalgar Square and purchased a chicken fajita wrap, a Diet Coke, a packet of crisps (prawn cocktail-flavoured), and a very nice almond croissant. Instead of eating while walking, I looked for a bench. Trafalgar Square was filled with thousands of people attending the Winter Festival so there was no place there to sit. So, I wandered through a large, imposing archway into St. James's Park. The Park runs from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Along its other edges are Westminster Palace and St. James's Palace. I found an empty park bench across from the duck pond where I sat and ate lunch. The chicken fajita wrap is one of my favourite choices from Tesco's ready-meal sandwich selection. I had never had prawn cocktail-flavoured crisps before, but they taste much like potato chips dipped in cocktail sauce. Not bad. In fact, much better than the ham-flavoured crisps I had a couple of weeks ago. The almond croissant was very flaky (all down the front of my shirt, in fact), but terribly yummy.
After lunch, I walked about the park a bit and soon I found the Institute of Contemporary Art. They were showing "Turtles Can Fly" - a film shot on location in an Iraqi refugee camp. I also noticed that there was a special Night of Skateboarding Culture tonight. I quickly purchased tickets to both.
Since I had some time before the movie, I wandered about a bit more. I took the obligatory photo of the police officers at the gate at Number 10 Downing Street, as well as a photo of the non-mounted guard at the entrance to the Horse Guards. Further along was Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I was in time for Evensong at the Abbey, so I slipped in. (See Side Note on Visiting Westminster Abbey.) It was amazing to sit there and think that similar services have been held daily in this place for almost one thousand years.
A returned to the ICA for the showing of "Turtles Can Fly." It's a terribly sad film about a group of children forced to grow up way too soon. In order to survive, some of the children must diffuse land mines and then sell them to earn a bit of money. All views on George Bush and the Iraq war aside, if this is how things were under the regime of Saddam, something needed to be done.
For dinner, I strolled along The Strand and bought a steak pastie at Charing Cross Station. It was hot and fairly tasty. I ate it as I strolled further along. Spotting another Tesco Express (and remembering my earlier almond croissant), I decided to get a chocolate one. It was very yummy as well.
Since it was almost time for the night of Skateboarding Culture, I headed back to the ICA. As people were coming in, an artist was onstage creating the backdrop for the performances. Instead of using traditional paints, he was using various colours of spray paints. The first item on the program was the screening of eight skating short films shot in a single day by local kids as part of a workshop. Some were quite good. We also viewed several other short skating films. Next was a hip-hop group followed by a DJ with his turntable. Following those two performances, the ska-punk band No Comply played.
I took a number of quite nice pictures. One day, I hope to be able to post them.
Currently, I am sitting in the same Internet Cafe as the previous two weekends. Not only is it convenient, it has the cheapest rates of any I have found.
posted by Matthew Reames at 1/15/2005 11:34:00 PM
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